CGV - Key Persons
Jacques Epstein joined the firm in 2009. He previously practised twelve years with Monahan & Duhot and then as a partner in the Paris office of first-tier US firms.
He is now based in our Brussels office.
Specialized in mergers and acquisitions and industrial joint-ventures, often in an international context, Jacques also has extensive experience in competition law. He advises foreign companies in acquisitions and disposals in France, and French companies in their international development and their acquisitions abroad.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Bordeaux Bar
Jean joined Vivien & Associés in 2020 and heads the Bordeaux office of the firm. He previously worked at Mallesons Stephen Jaques (Sydney and Bangkok) and Bredin Prat where he became Partner in 2000.
Jean specializes in mergers and acquisitions, particularly in cross border transactions. He has developed specific skills in the resolution of shareholders litigation through negotiation. He is involved in a vast area of industrial and services activities with a specific focus in the film industry and wine law.
He regularly defends clients at the investigation stage and before the French criminal courts.
Jean also leads public speaking workshops at Kedge Business School and INSEEC.
Jean-Luc is a lawyer at the Paris Bar since 1984, graduated from Harvard Law School and holds a doctorate in law (Paris-Assas). He represents French and international companies and investment funds on mergers & acquisitions, restructuring and equity transactions.
Jean-Luc joined Vivien & Associés in September 2019 after 35 years as partner at international lawfirms (White & Case, Slaughter & May, Dentons, and Lefévre Pelletier).
He has an established reputation in private equity both in France and in Africa. He is the author of the "Guide du Private Equity" published by Option Finance in 2016, and co-editor of the "Livre Blanc du Capital-investissement en Afrique" published by France Invest in 2017.
Jean-Luc has been actively involved in humanitarian programs in France, and in 1995 founded the NGO Droits d'Urgence, the largest French NGO (50 employees, 400 volunteers) to provide access to justice for the disadvantaged. Jean-Luc chaired Droits d'Urgence for about ten years. He is a member of the Boards of the American NGO PILnet and the Break Poverty Foundation.
He is a regular speaker at international conferences, and since 2016 has been instrumental in the establishment of the Paris Conference of the International Economic Forum of the Americas.
Laetitia Amzallag joined the firm after two years with the M&A and corporate department of Moquet Borde & Associés (Paul Hastings) in Paris (1999-2001).
Laetitia focuses her practice on M&A transactions, joint-ventures and strategic alliances and partnerships, disposals, external growth and equity investments, general corporate law and commercial contracts, both domestic and multijurisdictional.
She has put an emphasis on the renewable energy sector where she has acquired in-depth experience in the development, by operators, of wind, solar or biomass plants as well as equity investments of financial or corporate investors in SPVs.
Lisa is a member of the Paris Bar since 2013 and joined the M&A/Corporate department of the firm in late 2014 after having started her professional career in the Paris office of Latham & Watkins.
Focusing her practice on corporate law and mergers and acquisitions, Lisa advises French and international groups in the context of domestic and cross-border acquisition (both buy-side and sell-side), restructuring (including merger, spin-off or partial asset contribution) and joint-venture transactions. She also regularly focuses on capital-investment transactions either alongside companies working on their development and growth, or investors.
Founder of the firm in 1999, Nicolas Vivien previously practised in the corporate and international Business departments of Debevoise & Plimpton (Paris and New York) and Stibbe Simont Monahan Duhot (Paris), where he became a partner in 1996.
Experienced and even-handed, Nicolas brings deep negotiator skills to cross-border and domestic M&A transactions, including acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and other strategic corporate projects.
Nicolas assists clients in a wide array of industries and services. He is recognized for a practical, congenial problem-solving approach to negotiations that efficiently helps getting complex deals done.
Nicolas teaches M&A at Sciences Po (Paris). He is a trusted, longtime advisor to several prestigious French and international groups and serves on the board of several nonprofit organizations.